Walking The Wash – where Lincolnshire meets Norfolk
“Oh my, what a blustery day” said Dee.
The tide was incredibly high as we left Sutton Bridge – we’ve never seen quite so much water in an estuary before, and fast moving too.
Great start to the path – 3 miles of tarmac, always a treat. A completely mixed bag of weather today, some sunshine, some rain but consistently windy … and unfortunately we battled the wind head on most of the way. After the tarmac we had easy embankment wall, lovely and flat with the usual estuary mud flats and farming views. We were entertained again with the F35 Lightning fighter jets carrying out their training, lots of neck craning. And an abundance of birdlife today – an absolute orchestra of bird sound at some points – we needed our friend Len with us to identify who was who.
Sir Peter Scott Lighthouse
A rather lovely house in a remote spot
13 miles down, 3 to go!!
Fair to say it was quite a slog today, even with regular refreshment stops. At 14 miles we resisted the temptation to take the ferry across the estuary, rather than walk the extra 2 miles (weren’t we good)! So at just short of 16 miles we reached our destination in the historic town of Kings Lynn. We felt we needed a pat on the back so headed to a pub for a celebratory drink (or two)!
Looking weary after 16 miles of walking – needed something to pick us up!
The remains of the city wall in Kings LynnKings Lynn quayside
That’s the Lincolnshire coastline completed for us and we just have a little bit more of the Norfolk coastline to do. We’re getting there … very much hoping that we’ll have the whole of England and Wales done within the next 12 months, health and house-sitting depending.
Now I’m not exaggerating when I say that we’ve been pondering on this stretch of coastline for the last three years, since we were last up this way. I’ve witnessed Steve agonising over maps, websites and other walkers’ blogs for hours on end, trying to find a solution to how we could achieve this without forking out large sums of money for taxis (up to £100) or walking a crazy amount of miles in one go. Well, the big man found a solution and today was the day we did it.
It was the discovery of CallConnect buses that enabled us to complete the jigsaw puzzle, matching up times with local buses and some driving too. But Steve’s logistics proved perfect once again.
Callconnect – our hero of the day!Not all heroes wear capes!!
We drove to Sutton Bridge and our first CallConnect bus dropped us off right at the path at Gedney Drove End (a lovely chatty driver) … and he let us use our bus passes, even though it was only 9 o’clock! Easy embankment wall to start, veering right after a mile and on to Ministry of Defence land … and then miles of being warned about DANGER!! Unexploded bombs – risk of Death. Fire Risk. DANGER – overhead cables, could cause death. DANGER – risk of falling. DANGER – risk of drowning. And to add to the atmosphere there were jet fighters overhead, presumably training …. swooping down then making steep vertical ascents and creating thunderous crunching type noises. It was actually an amazing airshow and we were lucky to have free ringside seats.
The irony though was that it was the most sublime terrain – tarmac for 3 miles and the rest was a perfectly mowed grass embankment wall. We could even look up and take in the scenery, without fear of stumbling – normally I have my eyes glued to the ground watching for hazards. Some stunning agricultural land to the left … Steve was particularly impressed with the stripes (obviously not quite as good as his lawn). And it was a perfectly sunny day – blue skies with little puffs of white cloud – and a fresh breeze to stop us overheating …. just perfect.
Strangely, there was a noticeable absence of birdlife (they must have heard about the DANGER) but we were treated to plenty of butterfly flutter-bys.
It was a very isolated day on the path, very few walkers. We stumbled across a bench about 5 miles in so stopped for lunch and re-energised. We had figured today was going to be 14 miles so had come with plenty of food, drink and snacks and intended to make regular stops. My energy levels still aren’t back to normal so wanted to push myself but be prepared at the same time. I’d even squirrelled away a pocket full of starbursts for emergencies!
There was one bench on this whole stretch and it was perfect timing for lunch!
About 9 miles in, it became a bit of a physical and mental challenge – as beautiful as it was, it was all so much of the same and seemed to stretch on endlessly ahead. But of course we soldiered on and had such a Brucie Bonus when we discovered it was actually 12 miles and not 14. So, Fosdyke Bridge finally ticked off and we’ve learnt a whole load about local public transport!!
We travelled early from MK to the pretty village of Terrington St.Clement (Norfolk) for our next house-sitting assignment. This is providing us with the opportunity to complete a 35 mile stretch of ‘The Wash’ and so filling a gap we have between Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Janet, the lovely house owner, gave us a tour of the house and introduced us to Colin – you can tell she absolutely adores him, and why not, he’s gorgeous. Great name!
Gedney Drove End to Sutton Bridge
We decided to get an easy 6 miler in today while we had the benefit of a lift, from Janet, to Gedney Drove End (Lincolnshire) – this is why we have the gap as it’s a stretch not easily accessed by public transport. A beautiful spot but it felt like the back of beyond. It didn’t take long to find the embankment wall, today’s start to the coastal path. This county has a beauty all of its own – miles and miles of flat land, lush green and arable golds and enhanced today with stunning blue skies. For the first mile we had potatoes to our left and cabbages to our right – that’s dinner sorted!!
Cabbages, cabbages and more cabbages ….The back breaking job of picking the cabbages
A construction diversion took us off the path and we had some very manageable path and road walking for a while. Then onto an estuary path where some particularly inquisitive cows didn’t seem at all phased with us walking between them – just close up staring! This took us all the way to Sutton Bridge where we had clocked up 6.5 miles.
A fabulously easy walk, delicious lunch at Pippa’s Pantry and a pleasant bus ride home.
Isn’t this the cutest milk jug you’ve ever seen – Pippa’s Pantry, Sutton Bridge
All went so smoothly … that is, until we hit the Co-op! We stocked up on all the Members’ bargains only to find out at the till that, although the offers are identical nationally, your Membership card is only regional. After much discussion, a little time and some stress, we managed to download the app to become local members … and saved ourselves £12!!
Saturday 6th September 2025
After a comfortable night’s sleep in our temporary abode, we were up with the larks to drive to Sandringham for today’s Parkrun. A beautifully flat and picturesque course – no Royal runners but a very friendly bunch.
I took a break in the run to meet the Sandringham Bear
The rambling roses 